Original Spanish Officers Pioneer Machete Sword by Luckhaus & Günther in Scabbard Captured in Cuba, 1898
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Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice example of a Machete Sword from the Spanish-American war of 1898, which lasted approximately 4 months. We have seen these described as both "Pioneer Machetes" and "Officer's Swords", and we suspect they were used as both by Spanish forces. Many areas in Cuba and the Philippines were quite densely forested, so many carried machetes to help move through the jungle like foliage. The sword was captured by U.S. forces in Cuba, as indicated by the label on the scabbard:
SPANISH OFFICER SWORD CAPTURED IN CUBA, 1898
GIFT OF CAPTAIN WILCOX TO THE SOCIETY
This is a nice example, with a 25 1/2" long straight blade, which is about 1 1/4" wide. It is relatively thin and springy, definitely made for chopping through light brush and leaves. Measuring about 31 inches overall, the hilt has a lovely Spanish Eagle pommel, and is made of solid nickel silver alloy. It has two very nice checkered grip scales held in place by screws. There is a partially faded importer stamp on the blade, which originally would have read:
LA CATALANA
TENIENTE - REY.26
HAB[ANA]
This marking has been seen on Spanish American war Machetes from a variety of different makers, and appears to be the address of the importer / supplier. This address still exists in Cuba today.
There is a also maker mark on this side of the blade, which indicates that it was originally manufactured in Germany:
LUCKHAUS & GÜNTHER
REMSCHEID
Remscheid is a city Western Germany, and is directly to the East of Solingen, the Legendary "City of Blades". Luckhaus & Günther held numerous trademark logos in Germany, and specialized in exporting iron- and steelware to South America and Cuba from the 1880s until the 1940s. For more information please see J. Anthony Carter’s work GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS.
One of these trademarks is a circled Agnus Dei ('lamb of God') holding a cross under its foreleg, which is seen on the other side of the blade over the Spanish designation for this type of weapon:
(AGNUS DEI LOGO)
MACHETE
REGLAMENTARIO
This is in Spanish, and translates to "Regulatory Machete." There also is rack number 877 / C on this side of the blade, closer to the crossguard.
The blade is in good shape, though does show use, with areas of light rusting and pitting. We have left it uncleaned to preserve the patina. The machete comes in a very nice tooled embossed leather scabbard, with very nice nickel fittings. There is some age degradation, but the stitching looks to be mostly intact, and there are no splits or tears.
A very nice example from the Spanish-American War. Ready to display!
Specifications:
Blade Length: 25 1/2"
Blade Style: Single Edge Machete
Overall length: 31“
Crossguard: 3 1/4"
Scabbard length: 26 1/2”
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